Naked Science Forum

Non Life Sciences => Chemistry => Topic started by: SigmaPrime on 23/03/2006 05:36:55

Title: Fractals in Chemistry
Post by: SigmaPrime on 23/03/2006 05:36:55

Is it possible for the patterns of fractals to be used to identify known and unknown substances?

Title: Re: Fractals in Chemistry
Post by: SigmaPrime on 24/03/2006 01:15:14

I hope Chris reads this

Title: Re: Fractals in Chemistry
Post by: daveshorts on 24/03/2006 09:51:42

You would have to come up with a fractal system which was dependent on the substance. Do you have any in mind?

Title: Re: Fractals in Chemistry
Post by: ROBERT on 24/03/2006 16:22:22

These crystals are recognisable as caffeine from their fractal form:-

(https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi24.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fc23%2FSUEDONIM%2FA600487-Polarised_LM_of_crystals_of.jpg&hash=9583918c52261d05e9cd1b918d6a4f0f)


CREDIT:SINCLAIR STAMMERS / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
http://www.sciencephoto.com/search/searchLogic.html?searchstring=caffeine&country=67
Caption:-
Polarised light micrograph of crystals of caffeine, a stimulant present in coffee and tea.
 Magnification: x80 at 35mm size.

Title: Re: Fractals in Chemistry
Post by: SigmaPrime on 24/03/2006 21:13:20

Hmm do you have an image of their fractal form as well as more important on that topic? This looks quite promising!

I do not have a fractal system in mind. This is something that interests me and I've created fractals in the past through the electrodeposition of solid.

I hope to do this for my extended essay (IB program)

Title: Re: Fractals in Chemistry
Post by: ROBERT on 27/03/2006 16:43:29

The crystals themselves are fractal: their microscopic and macroscopic forms are similar.
Crystals are formed by repeatedly adding the the same primitive elements in the same way.

" Definition of Fractal
A word coined by Benoit Mandelbrot in 1975 to describe shapes that are "self-similar" -- that is, shapes that look the same at different magnifications. To create a fractal, you start with a simple shape and duplicate it successively according to a set of fixed rules. Oddly enough, such a simple formula for creating shapes can produce very complex structures, some of which have a striking resemblance to objects that appear in the real world. For example, graphics designers use fractals to generate images of mountainous landscapes, coastlines, and flowers."
http://www.angelfire.com/anime3/internet/graphics.htm